Potential conflicts of interest: None of the authors have any conflict of interest.

This paper was presented in the Asia Pacific Digestive Week, 2010 in KualaLumpur, Malaysia. The abstract was published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. (J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2010; 25 (Suppl 2): A12).

Keywords:

anemia;

Asia;

chronic diarrhea;

epidemiology;

gluten;

malabsorption;

short stature;

small intestine;

villous atrophy

Abstract

Background and Aim: While celiac disease is estimated to affect about 1% of the world's population, it is thought to be uncommon not only in India but in Asia also. There is a lack of studies on the prevalence of celiac disease from Asian nations. The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of celiac disease in the community.

Methods: In a cross sectional study, we estimated the prevalence of celiac disease in urban and rural populations in the National Capital Region, Delhi, India. A structured questionnaire was administered, by door-to-door visits, to all participants to collect socio-demographic data and to screen for features of celiac disease, namely chronic or recurrent diarrhea and, anemia. In children, additional features, namely short stature (linear height below 5th percentile for age) and failure to thrive/gain weight were also used. All respondents who were screen positive (any one of above) and 10% of screen negative individuals were called for serological testing, which is anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody. All serologically positive respondents were invited to undergo further evaluation including endoscopic biopsy. Celiac disease was diagnosed on the basis of a positive serology, the presence of villous atrophy and/or response to gluten free diet.